A message from Farid, Bite Back activist:
I’m 17 years old. I look around the streets where I live and junk food is always in the spotlight. When I walk to school, get on the bus, wait at a station, or just spend time in the town centre, I am surrounded by adverts for junk food. Big food companies are spending millions every year on junk food advertising targeting young people — and it’s endangering the health of a generation. There’s one brand that stands out more than others.
McDonald’s is a serial offender — with more billboards than other fast food brands and a marketing strategy focused on targeting poorer neighbourhoods and young people, they’re everywhere we go.
Next week, the people in charge of McDonald's have their big once a year meeting. The Chief Executive and other bosses have to answer questions from the people that own the company, and I’m going to be there too — David taking on Goliath! I will look them in the eye and ask them to stop advertising their junk food to children. Can I say I've got your backing too?
Together, we can force McDonald's to put their marketing might behind their healthy options instead.
References
[1] New research has revealed companies are ramping up their marketing spend, increasing how much money they spend promoting their products by a staggering £426 million in the last year.
[2] More billboards: field research in 4 local authority areas found McDonald’s was the most frequent advertiser representing 31% of all food and drink adverts. Read our report.
[3] Targeting deprived areas: McDonald’s adverts were more likely to be found in the most deprived areas in each location – on average, across the four locations, the rate of McDonald’s adverts captured per km cycled was 9 times greater in the most deprived areas, compared to the least (1.08 ads/km to 0.12 ads/km). Read our report.
[4] A new study found that children and young people are bombarded with social media ads for junk food.